Cinemark Launches Movie Club Program, But Does It Rival MoviePass?

Cinemark is taking a step into the burgeoning monthly moviegoer subscription service market. For a monthly fee of $8.99, the new service, called Movie Club, will give patrons one free ticket per month as well as the ability to buy additional tickets for $8.99 and a 20 percent discount on food and drinks at the theater chain’s concession stand.

The new service looks to be a competitor with Movie Pass, a service that charges $9.95 a month but gives its users one free movie ticket per day.

Speaking to the LA Times, Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi made it clear that the new service is to encourage greater movie attendance from casual movie goers.

Our goal was really simple. It was to increase attendance and remove all of the pain points around it. It helps us, our studio partners and the overall business.

And if you only venture out to the local cinemas a couple of times per year, Cinemark’s plan may appeal to you. The monthly free movie rolls over into the next month if unused, which could allow a subscriber to bank a couple of tickets in anticipation of blockbuster or Oscar contender season. However, if you are not one to hit the concession stand before your movie then you are not one who will benefit from discounts on popcorn and soda. That just leaves the one free ticket a month that you’re getting for your nine bucks, and given that the current average ticket price for a 2D feature is approximately $8.93 you’re actually down six cents.

Conversely, the big draw of MoviePass is its portability between theaters and getting one free ticket per day, every day of the month. The only drawback with MoviePass is that you can’t secure your ticket until 1/2 hour before showtime.

Cinemark is the third-largest movie chain in the country with nearly 350 theaters in the US and an additional 200 in Latin America.

A film fan since he first saw that Rebel Blockade Runner fleeing the massive Imperial Star Destroyer at the tender age of 8 and a veteran freelance journalist with twenty years experience writing about film and pop culture.